


Watchtower Watch Party

by Just_here_for_a_laugh



Series: The Justice League and the Batfam [3]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU, Justice League - All Media Types
Genre: Barbara Gordon in a Wheelchair, Barbara Gordon is a Batfamily member, Batfamily (DCU), Batfamily Meets Justice League, Bruce Wayne is a Good Parent, Domestic Batfamily, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, JLA - Freeform, Jason Todd is a Batfamily Member, Spying, audiovisual surveillance, batfam, billionaire Oliver Queen, spying on someone without their permission
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-02
Updated: 2020-07-02
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:54:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,193
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25026529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Just_here_for_a_laugh/pseuds/Just_here_for_a_laugh
Summary: When Flash overhears Batman sharing confidential Watchtower security details with someone over the phone, the Justice League fears the worst. However, when they start investigating what they find is even more shocking than they imagined
Relationships: Batfamily Members & Bruce Wayne, Justice League & Bruce Wayne
Series: The Justice League and the Batfam [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1771513
Comments: 88
Kudos: 2231





	Watchtower Watch Party

“I still don’t think this is a good idea,” Superman mumbled.  


“We have to know that’s going on,” Flash sighed. “It’s nothing he wouldn’t do himself.”

  


  


This had all started the day before when Batman had taken an abrupt leave of the Watchtower. It wasn’t unusual for members of the League to come and go even on days like this where everyone was present, but it was what Flash had overheard that had raised an alarm. He and Aquaman had been playing a video game when one of the controllers died. Looking for batteries in one of the overstocked and under-organized closets, he had been so engrossed in his search that he had crawled entirely into the closet and the door had nearly shut behind him. So it was that he was essentially invisible as Batman made his way to the zeta tube. He was talking to someone on the phone as he passed, and to Flash’s shock he heard the Dark Knight tell the person on the other end of the line

  
““I’m leaving the Watch Tower now. The main security system is on the fritz. It’ll need heavy overhaul, should take about two days.”

  
Flash had frozen. He knew what that sounded like, but there was no way. Batman would never, would he? As soon as he heard the swish of the zeta, Flash whirrled into the Tower lounge.

  
“Guys!” he panted, “We need to talk about something!”

  
He relayed what he had heard to the rest of the League, silently begging someone to prove him wrong. No one wanted to believe that the Bat was up to anything nefarious, but they were all hard pressed to find any other explanation as to why he would be exposing security weaknesses in the Justice League headquarters. He trusted no one outside the team, and he barely even trusted them. There was no way he would consult an outside security firm about the issues that the Tower had been having, and he most certainly would not contact them on a personal private phone line. The outlook for a heroic explanation looked bleak, but no matter what the League needed to know what was going on, and they needed to find out without alerting Batman. After a very long and uncomfortable discussion about how to proceed, the team decided to get to the bottom of the issue using some of the newest Lantern surveillance technology. The group’s scientists had just developed an audio-video bug small enough to be transmitted via aerosol and only activated when in contact with skin. The team installed canisters in the disinfectant system above the entrances to the Tower to spray the target, and so it was that they were now all surrounding the Tower’s main monitor screen waiting for the live feed to connect.

  


  


“It feels wrong,” Superman whispered. Wonder Woman put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

  
“I know,” she empathized, “but we must ascertain the truth. It is possible that someone has our friend under some kind of trance. If that is the case we must find out who in order to save him.”

  
“And he may not be betraying us,” said Green Lantern from his seat in front of the monitor, “there may be some other perfectly logical explanation, though I can’t imagine what it could be,” he said, murmuring the last part a bit quieter than the rest. “Hold on, the feed’s coming in.” The system crackled with static as the image began to come up on screen.

  
“How long do we have?” asked Green Arrow.

  
“The bugs are designed to resist at least a couple showers, so unless he’s a hygiene fanatic we should have a few days of surveillance time. Here it comes.” The indicators all registered that the bugs were working properly, but the video was incredibly dark and the audio was echoing.

  
“What’s wrong with it?” Flash asked.

  
“I don’t know,” Green Lantern puzzled, “all the readings show they’re working perfectly.”

  
“Well, clearly they aren’t cause it looks more like you followed me home to the bottom of the ocean instead,” snarked Aquaman.

  
“A cave,” Superman thought aloud, “you don’t think that time when he mentioned a ‘Batcave’ he literally meant a cave, do you?”

  
“What else would he have meant?” Diana asked.

  
“Well I sorta thought he’d meant like a man cave,” Green Arrow supplied.

  
“Yeah, me too,” Superman admitted, “but if he has an actual cave...that’d explain what’s up with our surveillance. I mean, it’d be a decent place to set up a secure base.”

  
“Plus it’s Batsy,” Aquaman added, “he’d love a spooky cave to chill out in.”

  
“Shhhh!” Flash shushed, frantically smacking their arms, “Something’s happening!” The video feed showed something like an elevator, and then a well furnished, elegant study. While none of the Leaguers could say that they had been expecting the shift from damp cave to early mid century drawing room, it was the instantaneous and overpowering audio registered as the elevator(? Zeta tube? Laundry chute?) door opened. Shouts and hollers from all different directions flooded the study, remarkable though, unlike those that usually surrounded the vigilante whenever he was with the League, these screams all seemed to be relatively lacking in abject terror or maniacal laughter. As the Dark Knight made his way through the study, another sound bubbled up. It was a low rumble emanating up from someplace near the transmi-

  
“Oh my gosh, is he laughing?” Shocked, the rest of the team had to agree with Flash’s assessment: Batman was chuckling. Fondly. What was going on?

  
Batman passed through a pair of French doors into a hallway and through various parts of a staggeringly beautiful mansion. Grand staircases with strong mahogany handrails crafted with intricate and delicate detail, fine and elegant furnishings and art from dozens of cultures; the house was as gorgeous as it seemed to be expansive. Finally, Batman walked into what seemed to be a sitting room and was instantly plunged into chaos. There were people everywhere; more specifically, kids. Amid the laughs, squeals, and conflicting cacophony of two different musical genres blasting through unseen speakers battling for dominance, there were kids all over the sitting room. Two older boys, both with black hair and vibrant eyes, and who were for accuracy’s sake more young adults than kids, were engaged in what looked like the completion of a dare (almost certainly posed by the boy with the white streak in his hair as he was merely watching the other from the couch) as the boy with darker skin slowly placed a fifth book onto the Jenga-like tower he was balancing on his head. Further into the room a young woman around the age of the first two boys sat in front of an end table in a wheelchair, her only movement brushing her long red hair out of her face as she focused intensely on a chess board. Across from her sat a boy barely into his teen years with jet black hair and an equally serious countenance. A third member of this group focusing on the chess board was a teenage girl, also with black hair, who seemed to be refereeing the game from her place perched on the chandelier. Sitting contently amid the chaos at a small table by the large window sat an elderly gentleman in a suit, surveying the assorted crowd of young people, not to mention two dogs, a cat, and -my gosh, was that a turkey?

  
The members of the League stared at the screen in disbelief.

  
“What is happening?” Green Lantern breathed, prompting everyone else to shake their heads. None of this made any sense. They continued watching in earnest. Batman walked slightly closer to the boy on the couch and spoke for the first time since they had begun their surveillance.

  
“Jason, what a pleasant surprise.”

  
“Woah,” the boy laughed, “ease up on the niceties old man, wouldn’t want to strain yourself.” His words sounded derisive but his tone was just light enough to mean no real offense, eliciting again that strange and foreign chuckle from the Dark Knight. He ruffled the boy’s hair and evidently nodded to the other boy who nodded in return (without dropping a single book) and laughed as his counterpart tried to swat the Bat’s hand away.

  
“Good evening, Master Bruce,” said the man by the window.

  
“Good evening Alfred,” answered Batman as the League looked around to each other, whispering frenziedly in response to the sudden revelation of Batman’s first name.

  
“I just knew he’d have some strong, gruff name like that,” whispered Flash.

  
“Shut up, no you did not,” Aquaman whispered back.

  
“Do you think that Alfred is the Agent A he talks to all the time?” Superman asked.

  
“That would be a logical conclusion,” Wonder Woman agreed. They all chattered excitedly, except Green Arrow who, after a barely audible “It can’t be,” when Batman- or Bruce as it was- walked into the sitting room with the others, had said nothing this entire time. In fact he looked even more shocked than the rest of them. Desperate for any more information, and because they still did not actually know why Batman had told someone confidential details about Watchtower security, the team stayed glued to the screen.

  
Bruce walked over to evaluate the chess game. After a moment of looking at the board he grunted in approval and both players smiled, though neither one looked up. There was a faint noise just above the screen’s view and then the young girl on the chandelier swung down with more grace and poise than seemed possible for such a small frame. She closed the rest of the distance between herself and Bruce, pulling him into a hug. The League collectively gasped. Bruce hummed pleasantly.

  
“Hi Cassie,” he said. The girl looked up at him and smiled by way of response. He patted her hair and kissed the top of her head. The sweet moment was interrupted as the commotion that had been roaring throughout the rest of the house burst through the door, though neither Bruce nor the girl seemed annoyed or even surprised. The League could finally see where the majority of the shouts and shrieks of laughter had been coming from as three kids with a football nearly knocked Bruce over. There was a loud chorus of “woooahs,” laughter, “I believe I’ve said no football, American or otherwise, in the house,” and “Hi Bruce”s as the trio blew past. They came screeching to a halt. The amature players were three teenagers all around the same age: two boys, one with pale skin and the other with dark skin and, though the pale one’s hair was significantly longer, both with the same characteristic black hair color boasted by most of the people in the room. The third was a girl with long blonde hair and pale freckles. Despite their differences though they all had the exact same excited grin, barely holding back elated laughter. Bruce chuckled.

  
“Hey guys, how’s the game going? Anybody winning?”

  
“Not Duke,” the blonde snorted. The boy with dark skin scoffed in mock offense and the pale boy cracked up laughing. Bruce laughed lightheartedly as well.

  
“Try shielding the ball under yourself,” he advised, “hood it with your shoulder, it’ll make it much harder to grab away from you.”

  
“Thanks,” Duke grinned. He glanced over at the couch. “You sure you don’t wanna play, Jay?”

  
“Outside,” Alfred added..

  
“Nah,” the other boy answered when Jason shook his head, tower of books now abandoned on the coffee table, “football was never really Jay’s thing.”

  
“Why not?” Duke asked. “I figured you’d love a sport where you get to tackle people,” he joked.

  
“Are you saying you actually want me to tackle you?” Jason grinned.

  
“Never mind,” came the reply. “Dick?” he asked the other boy.

  
“Nah,” Dick grinned, “I’d just humiliate you.” The blonde stuck out her tongue at him. Suddenly she grinned.

  
“Uh, Jay! I think you might wanna turn around.” At her behest the young man did, and immediately pulled his legs up to his chest and leaned into the couch cushions as far as possible away from the turkey who was currently moving towards him with slow, steady determination. The boy with long hair laughed.

  
“This is because you took that candy wrapper away from him earlier,” he joked.

  
“I’m sorry Jerry but you can’t eat plastic!” Jason squawked as the bird got closer. “Babs! Come get Jerry!”

  
“Why me?” asked the redhead, not looking up from the chess game.

  
“Cause you’re his favorite,” Jason answered, not breaking eye contact with Jerry.

  
“Dami’s his favorite,” the young woman countered, “plus it’s his turkey.”

  
“Yeah but Damian likes it when he attacks me, he thinks it’s funny.”

  
“I do indeed,” smirked the boy on the other side of the chess board, “and besides, he does not attack you. Your little spats with him could be described as altercations at best.”

  
“Barbaraaaa,” Jason called. The blonde haired girl sighed dramatically.

  
“I’ll get him. Come here Jerry, leave mean old Jason alone,” she cooed as she picked up the bird. Jason sighed slightly in relief.

  
“Thanks Steph,” he said as she carried the large bird out of the room. Jason shook his head. “Why’d you have to go and have so many kids Bruce?” he asked in the same joking tone he’d used earlier. The entire Justice League, save Green Arrow, roared in shock. These kids were Batman’s?! Batman was a father? Of eight! At least?! To say that they were surprised was the understatement of the millenia, and to say that they were recovered before Jason continued speaking was close behind it.

  
“You could have just stopped after me and Dick and everything would have been perfect.” he said.

  
“Hey!” Barbara cut in, “I was here before you were!”

  
“Yeah, but you didn’t live here,” Jason countered, “plus you wouldn’t save me from the turkey, so you don’t count.” Bruce laughed.

  
“But if I didn’t have all of you who would keep my life from being dull?” Just then there was a loud crash from the hall and the distinct sound of something shattering, followed by Stephanie’s voice calling out

  
“That was Jerry’s fault, not mine!” Bruce smiled and gestured towards the door.

  
“See?” Jason snorted out a laugh and turned back around on the couch.

  
“Speaking of family, Father,” Damian began, “Aunt Kate and Aunt Maggie will be joining us for dinner.”

  
“Oh, wonderful,” Bruce said. He gave the indication that he intended to say more on the subject but he was interrupted by Steph’s return.

  
“Come on guys let’s go!” she said, barrelling in and looking at the two boys she had been playing football with earlier. They started to chase after her but the boy with long hair stopped just short of the door and spun back around on his heel, causing the other two to stop as well.

  
“Oh, B,” he said, getting Bruce’s attention.

  
“Yes Tim?”

  
“I finished the maintenance work on the Tower security system you asked me to do.”

  
“Oh, fantastic. That was sooner that I thought it’d be,” he answered. Tim smiled, a bit of pride evident on his face.

  
“Yeah, well, it wasn’t all that hard so I was able to do it pretty quick. I even added a few more redundancies and system traps, you know, just to make it even more secure like you’re always saying.” Duke leaned over as to be seen alongside his brother and grinned.

  
“Just to be clear, he thinks you’re as paranoid as the rest of us do, he just wants to make sure the system is too complicated for anyone else to understand so you always have to come to him.” Bruce laughed and put a hand on Tim’s shoulder.

  
“No one else I’d rather ask anyway,” he smiled warmly, sounding more genuine than anyone in the League had ever heard him. “Now, go play,” he instructed, and the three took off after one another. Bruce hummed contently as he watched them leave and then turned back towards the interior of the room. “They’re good kids, aren’t they,” he mused as Alfred stood up from his chair.

  
“They are indeed,” the older man agreed, “though I cannot say I’m surprised,” he added with a smile. Bruce huffed a small laugh of appreciation or disbelief, or possibly both, but just then the moment was spoiled as Alfred walked by and a sudden mechanical noise rang out.

  
“Interference,” the entire room identified, almost in unison. Everyone fell silent. Well, the League noted, they had certainly all inherited Bruce’s attentive and unsettling nature. The older man walked backwards past Bruce again and then forwards, both times eliciting the same sound. He pulled out a small device from an inner pocket in his jacket and frowned.

  
“A scanner sir, for listening devices. I thought it might come in handy.”

  
“Looks like it did,” replied Bruce, somewhat taken aback by having been caught off guard.

  
“It should have gone off much further away than it did; I’ll have to have Master Timothy take a look at it. But one way or another, you have been bugged.”

  
“That’s not possible,” Batman thought aloud, “the cave is secure; no one could have bugged these clothes. The only way that-” he paused. “Lantern,” he said loudly, and quite sternly. Green Lantern gulped. Bruce took out his JLA communicator from his pocket and dialed. Sheepishly, Green Lantern picked up.

  
“H-heyyy Batman,” he started.

  
“Speaker. Now.” came the answer.

  
“You bet,” Lantern said immediately, putting the communicator on speaker phone and holding it out to the League.

  
“So,” Batman said, “nice to see the new Lantern Corps bugs are functional. Anyone care to tell me why I was the first test subject?”

  
“Well, uh, you see,” started Superman, “there was a, um, suspected breach in-”

  
“I did it,” Flash cut in with a sigh. “I heard you talking on the phone yesterday to your son, Tim I guess, about the security system and I was worried you were divulging secrets to somebody who might have been, uh...not your son.” Flash’s eyes widened. “Not on purpose of course!” he backtracked, “We thought maybe you had been drugged, or hypnotized, or that you were really an evil clone of Batman or an android or-”

  
“You did the right thing,” Batman said. There was silence.

  
“Really?” Flash asked hesitantly.

  
“Yes. You perceived a possible threat to the League and investigated. And you did it without my knowledge, which is not something many people are able to do.” He paused. “You also learned many things about myself and my family, information I trust that you will be extremely professional and discreet with. Now, if you will please end the surveillance transmission, I’m going to go find a way to deactivate these. And, Arrow, if you say one word about anything they don’t already know I will drop you off the top of my building.”

  
“WHAT” Green Arrow shouted, “YOU MEAN YOU KNEW THIS WHOLE TIME YOU SON OF A-”

  
Bruce smiled as he hung up.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed this latest installment to the series! I had a lot of fun writing this one. I don't own DC comics or anything associated with them (because if I did I would take Damian Wayne and Jason Todd away from them and let them REST). @julesthegoblin asked to be tagged in this, so here we go just in case the subscribing to the series didn't give you the notification, I hope you love this one as much as the others! Happy reading!


End file.
